January in the Garden

We are at the last day of the first month of this new year and I am happy that I have been able to pot about the garden for a couple of days this month. So far this winter seems milder than last year and definitely less rainy. I think last year we did not have an actual break from the rain until mid to late March and then it snowed in April! 

Last year we finished our greenhouse, built the garden boxes for the potager and laid out the area, and put in new borders and beds to create a "garden room" with an antique reproduction arch as a doorway. Not much is really growing here yet as much of my time last year was spent in creating these spaces where only grass and weeds once grew.

This year I have plans of finishing out these areas a bit more and planting in more shrubbery and of course more flowers! I started many from seed last year, a bit late in the season, and some were successful and some were not. My most successful seeds were borage, asters, and strawflowers. I had mixed success with cosmos, foxgloves, bachelor buttons, sweetpeas, and delphiniums. I had terrible success with phlox but that is mostly because the wild rabbits that live in our neighborhood could NOT stop treating them like a never ending buffet! I barely saw a blue phlox bloom and my cream colored phlox seedlings only one really germinated. 

WINTER/SPRING PROJECTS

- Replace stone/pebble border in "Cottage Room" (nearly done)

- Begin digging up border around potager to plant in lavender and rosemary (have not started)

- Prune everything (done)

- Amend soil in all the beds and borders (needs to be done before planting in new additions)

- Expand border near the shed

- Add new beds and borders to incorporate apple trees

A few weeks ago I had heavily pruned the garden, which I had always been a bit apprehensive about. There was always a tinge of fear that I would kill the plant and all the months of tending and caring were for naught. But as I started to prune, I felt myself getting braver and more confident and soon became a bit ruthless with my pruning. Amidst all that, a metaphor was found on how important it was for me to begin pruning relationships and things hindering growth in my life. I went around the garden cutting and snipping, and sometimes apologizing. "Oh, I'm so sorry, but I promise this is good for you!"